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STERLING RECHARGE AREA
Structure dossier · WDID 6402515 · RA · SOUTH PLATTE RIVER · DWR record
Where this page's figures come from
Generated 2026-08-27 23:49 by Hydrohistorian. Sources: DWR HydroBase snapshot HydroBase_CO_20260707 (history) + CDSS REST (current), USGS NWIS cross-checks. Engine v0.5.0 (2deb1d7) — every figure regenerates from this named code version and data image.
Where it sits
Location as DWR records it. Faint dots are the neighbouring water; click any to open it.
Which of its rights are out of priority?
Not computable for this structure: this structure is not on the modelled flow network, so no reference gage can honestly stand in for it.
Where it sits in line
Priority 1873-07-15 — 16th most senior of the 2052 structures with decreed rights in this water districtDWR's administrative subdivision of a river basin; the unit calls are usually stated in..
Under prior appropriationColorado's rule for sharing water: first in time, first in right. Age decides, not proximity or need., everything ahead of it in this line is satisfied in full before it receives any water. Immediately ahead: PAWNEE DITCH (1873-07-15). Immediately behind: HENDERSON-SMITH HEADGATE WELL 1 (1873-07-15).
Decreed rights (9)
| Admin noDWR's numeric encoding of a water right's seniority. Smaller is more senior; the integer part counts days from 1849-12-31 to the date that ranks the right. | AppropriatedWhen water was first put to beneficial use. It sets seniority unless a prior adjudication date is later. | AdjudicatedWhen the water court confirmed the right. A use decreed in 1975 was not a decreed use in 1955, however old the appropriation is. | AbsoluteA right actually put to use, as opposed to conditional -- a placeholder for a use not yet made. | ConditionalA right reserving a place in line for a use not yet made; it must be diligently pursued or it lapses. | Units | UsesWhat the court said this water may be used for -- irrigation, municipal supply, augmentation and so on. | Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8597.0 | 1873-07-15 | 1894-11-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | RCH | |
| 8661.0 | 1873-09-17 | 1894-11-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | RCH | |
| 11861.0 | 1882-06-22 | 1894-11-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | RCH | |
| 12577.0 | 1884-06-07 | 1894-11-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | RCH | |
| 13349.0 | 1886-07-19 | 1894-11-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | RCH | |
| 22059.0 | 1910-05-25 | 1914-01-15 | 0.0 | 0.0 | A | RCH | |
| 31423.29219 | 1929-12-31 | 1965-10-18 | 0.0 | 0.0 | A | RCH | |
| 47112.0 | 1978-12-27 | 1978-12-31 | 1648.71 | 1851.29 | A | RCH | |
| 54237.0 | 1998-06-30 | 1998-12-31 | 0.0 | 0.0 | C | MUN |
Legal record & documents
36 decreed actions on record across
6 court cases:
98CW0450, 09CW0269, W9507, 18CW3068, 02CW0201, 00CW0253.
Every case, dated
| Case | Actions | Latest adjudication | Types |
|---|---|---|---|
98CW0450 | 13 | 1998-12-31 | S |
09CW0269 | 13 | 1998-12-31 | S |
W9507 | 1 | 1978-12-31 | S |
18CW3068 | 1 | 1978-12-31 | S |
02CW0201 | 1 | 1978-12-31 | S |
00CW0253 | 7 | 1965-10-18 | O, S |
DWR's own records for this structure: net amounts · transactions & adjudication history · scanned decrees (search a case number there for the imaged document). On this site: the district's full legal picture →
Recorded use (last 15 years on record)
In a median year this structure has a recorded diversion of 1,216 AF. Its most recent year on record, 2017, came in at 1,268 AF — 104% of that, and 9th lowest of the 15 years with a recorded volume.
| Year | Diverted (AFA volume: one acre covered a foot deep, about 326,000 gallons -- roughly a suburban household's outdoor use for a year.) | Compared with its own record | Days recorded | Peak (cfs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 1,160 | 7th lowest of 15 · 95% of median | 225 | 3.4 |
| 1998 | 584 | 5th lowest of 15 · 48% of median | 149 | 2.5 |
| 1999 | 236 | 2nd lowest of 15 · 19% of median | 61 | 2.0 |
| 2000 | 977 | 6th lowest of 15 · 80% of median | 233 | 2.6 |
| 2001 | 1,310 | 10th lowest of 15 · 108% of median | 291 | 2.7 |
| 2002 | 478 | 4th lowest of 15 · 39% of median | 103 | 2.9 |
| 2003 | 109 | 1st lowest of 15 · 9% of median | 30 | 2.4 |
| 2010 | 273 | 3rd lowest of 15 · 22% of median | 61 | 2.4 |
| 2011 | 1,702 | 15th lowest of 15 · 140% of median | 365 | 4.2 |
| 2012 | 1,216 | 8th lowest of 15 · 100% of median | 315 | 2.6 |
| 2013 | 1,333 | 11th lowest of 15 · 110% of median | 365 | 2.2 |
| 2014 | 1,567 | 12th lowest of 15 · 129% of median | 365 | 2.5 |
| 2015 | 1,673 | 14th lowest of 15 · 138% of median | 365 | 3.3 |
| 2016 | 1,595 | 13th lowest of 15 · 131% of median | 366 | 2.8 |
| 2017 | 1,268 | 9th lowest of 15 · 104% of median | 304 | 2.5 |
Trends for this structure
Recorded use is rising over its last 15 recorded years (+39 AF/yr, Mann-Kendall p=0.048).
How good is our record of it?
Grade A (9/10 points) — the components below are the finding; the letter alone is not.
The rubric, component by component
| Check | State | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| identity | complete | name, type, and water source all on file |
| decreed rights | on file | 9 right(s), seniority decoded |
| diversion record | present | 6473 measured days; currency unknown (no data-coverage date to compare against) |
| record continuity | continuous | 86% of the irrigation seasons in 1982-2017 carry measured days |
| published-record stability | stable | no upstream revisions recorded against this structure |
Advisory reading aid on public data — not an administrative or legal conclusion, not a title opinion, and not a substitute for DWR administration or an engineer's analysis. Methodology review status is disclosed at hydrohistorian's basin pages.